Interested in volunteering to help protect and improve wildlife habitat around the Chicagoland area? Come join The Peregrines, a group of volunteer habitat restorationists!
Interested in volunteering to help protect and improve wildlife habitat around the Chicagoland area? Come join The Peregrines, a group of volunteer habitat restorationists!
Who are The Peregrines?
We call ourselves “The Peregrines” (from the word for “pilgrims,” or “wanderers”) because we move around. We care for some of NE Illinois’ most precious natural areas–a fun and relaxed way to join the mission to restore health to our needy native ecosystems. Should you want to help, you will have the chance to visit several beautiful nature preserves, and to learn and share knowledge with stewards and vibrant volunteer communities.
Even if you’ve never pulled a weed, gathered a seed, or cut an invasive buckthorn, we’d love to get you started! Depending on the day and the season, we’ll be protecting endangered species by eliminating invasive species and beating back brush, collecting the seeds of rare plants to establish thriving biotic communities, and even helping conduct prescribed burns to bring the ecosystems back into balance. The group will cycle through several sites each month, so participants can have a chance to see the variety of nature preserves this region hosts, but if one site or another strikes your fancy, you can always choose to stick around… or find your own, favorite cycle through the preserves!
Even though we’ll be in different places from week-to-week, you’ll still be able to share the work (and the snacks!) with a thriving community of nature lovers. While all are welcome, the Peregrines so far consist mostly of people in their 20s and 30s, and we hope to be a growing community of folks who care for nature. We’ll decide what to be, where to go, and what to do together, with expert mentoring when and as desired. When we can, we’ll carpool to preserves–if you’d like to be matched with a driver, or let us know that you’d like to offer to drive, we have sign-up forms on our social media. Let us know if you’d like to keep in touch, come out to our next workday, or drive for the carpool (or all of the above)!
What we do
We travel to nature preserves throughout the Chicago region/northeast Illinois and work to protect and restore these rare, important ecosystems. The work ranges across seasons and sites, but often involves:
- cutting and burning small trees (winter)
- pulling invasive plants (spring)
- collecting seeds from native plants (summer)
- sorting, cleaning, and spreading seeds (fall)
No experience is necessary— all you need is a desire to pitch in and help conserve our natural ecosystem.
How can I get involved?
peregrines (at) friendsilnature.org
We hope to see you out in the preserves soon!
Upcoming workdays
© Peregrines 2023
peregrines (at) friendsilnature.org